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USA: “America’s Top High School Science Students Are the Children of Immigrants”, including one from “shithole” Nigeriahttps://emotanafricana.com/2018/04/02/usa-americas-top-high-school-science-students-are-the-children-of-immigrants-including-one-from-shithole-nigeria/
https://emotanafricana.com/2018/04/02/usa-americas-top-high-school-science-students-are-the-children-of-immigrants-including-one-from-shithole-nigeria/#commentsMon, 02 Apr 2018 14:11:25 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=47176With President Trump’s continued rants and rage against immigrants, here’s an old essay that may interest him and his “base”. Think of what the absence of these brilliant students would mean to U.S. colleges.

Even “shithole” Nigeria registers one of the 40 students; his/her both parents are Nigerians just like Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

And by the way –

apart from the United States, Canada and Japan, there are no First World countries on the list.

India (14) and China (11) ran away with 62.5% of these [sort of] Science Olympians whose both parents are immigrants, Singapore, South Korea – and Taiwan – Second World Asian power houses – have students whose both parents are immigrants-

I do not see students from Finland, Norway … the types of countries Trump wants as senders of immigrants.

What is more: over a twelve-year period – 2004 – 2016, the percentage of such students increased from around 60% to over 80%.

Educational experts know that the presence of excellent students affect other students by making them better.

Thanks, Dr. Ọ̀páwọyè, for sharing this with me. Tola.

America’s Top High School Science Students Are the Children of Immigrants

If the children of immigrants somehow disappeared from the U.S., America would suddenly be in a serious science talent deficit.

That’s the conclusion that can be drawn from a new report from the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to public policy research on trade, immigration, and education.

The organization found that 33 of the 40 finalists of the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search–the leading science competition for U.S. high school students, run by the Society for Science & the Public and now known as the Regeneron Science Talent Search–were the children of immigrants. Specifically, 30 out of the 40 finalists had parents who worked in America on H-1B visas, the option that is no longer available for expedited processing due to a recent policy change from the Trump administration.

“The science competition has been called the ‘Junior Nobel Prize,’” the Foundation says. “These outstanding children of immigrants would never have been in America if their parents had not been allowed into the U.S.”

Their ranks have been steadily increasing since 2004, the Foundation showed.

Here were the countries of origins for the 2016 finalists’ parents: India was No. 1 at 14, followed by China at No. 11.

And of the nine winners of the 2016 competition, seven were the children of immigrants.

As a fan of the annual National Geographic Scripps Spelling Bee Competition, my heart, despite the fact that I would not have wagered in her favor for a couple of reasons, was always with home-schooled Edith Fuller, the little Oklahoman girl. A sure contender for a not too-distant future win, had age at her disadvantage at a mere 6 years old. Edith, who had qualified at five, also had quite a few of the perennial Indian-American kids among the 290 who made it to Washington, D.C., waiting in the wings.

The Indian-American kids are so formidable that while their tons of admirers are not only Indian-Americans, non-American Indians in America and fans of the competition which can be seen on the sports cable channel, ESPN every year, the racist ranks in America have found a cause to rail and rally against at this time of the year. Their sense of entitlement have led to racist rants on social media, including many of them calling out to organizers to limit the competition to “Americans only”; “real Americans need to win”; “#tiredofIndians”…” I wonder where a girl born and raised in California is from if not the United States of America.

In a post I wrote on the 2011 winner, I continued a series I started with Nigerian-American kids who perform well enough in high schools to earn admissions to coveted colleges/universities. You can check out those essays by using the search box here: [Why do immigrant kids perform well in America.

One of the 2011 essays was “Why do immigrant kids perform so well in America: Indian-Americans and the Annual Scipps Spelling …; here are two paragraphs from that essay:

How do Indian-Americans do it? How have they come to dominate what was once a nearly lilly-white affair? Why does a university in Virginia send scouts to an Indian university every year to get the first shot at selecting graduates to come to America for studies? Even President Obama has consistently warned that the USA must strengthen its educational system because India, like China, must be taken seriously as India has “some very talented people.”

Asians kids, especially Chinese and Indians, are a disciplined lot and, perhaps unlike other major immigrant groups, the kids tend to listen more to their parents and respect authority; they accept their cultural practices even when they may not subscribe to certain aspects. They stay focused and ways of life that white kids would rebel against are accepted by them because they see their parents’ efforts as being in their interests. I remember when Michael Chang, the tennis player first started out in the 80s and his mom and brother were his handlers; it was before Richard and Oracene (Venus and Serena’s parents) showed the tennis world kids can be coached and managed by parents who learn the game rules, coupled with loving care. There were many criticisms of the Changs: how will Michael date with his mother always around him … and other such culture-insensitive questions.

Here are the formidable records that Indian-American kids have accumulated at the annual competition. Rather than hate, one would think others – parents and non-parents – would look for ways to get their kids prepared for this great competition. Many kids make multiple appearances before finally being the last kid standing, the reason I feel certain that Little Edith will return after piling on a few more years.

Digest these facts: when Ananya Vinay won the $40,000 prize this week, she becomes the 13th CONSECUTIVE INDIAN-AMERICAN KID to lift the prestigious trophy; from 1999 to 2012 a period of 14 years, ten Indian-American kids lifted the trophy and in 2014, Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe shared the prize. News reports show that contestants of Indian or South Asian descent often count up to one-fifth of the 200-Plus kids at the Washington, D.C. National level stage, and are reportedly more than a third of the final fifty!

The kids, as records show, simply keep on going back. In response to the public debate about how Indian-American kids have completely dominated the competition over many years, the Washington Post refers to a study by Indian-American Northwestern University Anthropology researcher, Shalini Shankar’s contention:

“… that immigrants from India, who are the parents and grandparents of today’s spellers, are typically well-educated professionals and driven to succeed. She is amused by bee watchers who suggest that a “spelling gene” might explain the domination by Indian Americans.

“You don’t see lots of spelling bee winners who are the children of assembly line workers or cabdrivers, even if they’re South Asian,” she said. “You see children of doctors, you see children of engineers.”

The success of Indian Americans has built on itself. A milestone is the 2002 documentary, “Spellbound,” that followed eight spellers on their path to the 1999 national bee and culminates with Nupur Lala’s exultant victory.

“A lot of the spellers I interviewed said that was the moment they realized, ‘We could do this,’ ” Shankar said. “So, if you count it down from when ‘Spellbound’ came out, it’s about a five- or six-year arc until they really started dominating. The reach of that movie has been much farther than people realized.”

Check out the WaPo essay and see how Indian-American and other South Asian-Americans are getting leg-up through “the creation of so-called ‘minor league’ spelling bees run by and for Americans of South Asian descent. The two most prominent — the North South Foundation Spelling Bee and the South Asian Spelling Bee — have become proving grounds for a generation of Indian American children who have set their sights on the Scripps national title.”

Rather than spewing out hate on social media at Tiger Mom-types who help their kids be their best, or Indian-American kids who have discovered how to succeed and dominate Engineering courses in American Us along with Chinese, why can’t other parents throw away their “modern” playbook on parenting which I believe is partly at the root of underachieving white-American kids. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy watching the tournament every year.

In closing, I wish to refer to the earliest in this series: Why do immigrant kids perform well in America: the Nigerian Example (2).

Here are excerpts from the second instalment on June 13, 2011:

The Nigerian therefore arrives in America – or is the child of parents who arrived in America on this latter-day “Mayflower” journey and races through school and college (university) which he knows is the first step to success. Except, perhaps in the last decade with tons of stolen cash available to politicians and top civil servants, most Nigerian students in America always had to work jobs – sometimes multiple – to put themselves through college. My husband and I did. Yet, they’ve been turning out success stories year after year. I do not think any of those featured here is an offspring of Nigerian looters which makes their achievements all the more cheery news.

In six years, Nigeria has had three MacArthur ‘Genius’ awardees! Not bad for a single country. I’ve included Chimamanda Adichie who does not really belong in this essay but the MacArthur Fellowship is an American foundation that gifts $500,000 “no strings attached” to worthy recipients which she won three years ago. The two other recipients are Funmi Olopade (nee Falusi) for her pioneering cancer research work at the University of Chicago; Funmi donated generously of hers to the University of Ibadan, her alma mater and the Obafemi Awolowo University for cancer research. John Dabiri, a 30-year old biophysicist and Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Bioengineering with the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) received his award last year to enable him “reflect, create and explore”. Funmi’s awards was in 2005. Some years ago after her award, she had a sort of home-coming lecture at which I was present at the UCH, Ibadan to which she was accompanied by her husband (also a medical professor in Chicago with UI roots) as well as other colleagues from the University of Chicago. Her pioneering work on African-American women which has extended to include sample area in Nigeria, was the subject. Olopade, is also a past recipient of the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award.

Love this post, but what about the Ewedemi Brother who did his PHD in Chemical Engineering at Stanford and his only sibling who did her undergraduate at Yale and is now a doctor in Texas? Or the four sisters from Minnesota that all attended Harvard? Or the Nigerian twins that both attended Harvard and got what was a perfect score at the time, 1600 on their SAT’s? There are tens of thousands of these Nigerian overachievers. . . not only academically, but the 19 year-old boy that finished college in 3 years and got drafted in the NFL at age 19? Notice in the last Superbowl, three players had charities and two of the football players were Nigerians? We have both brains and brawn, some of us have siblings that play in the NFL, NBA and yes even the NHL (those of us that made it to Canada) and also have siblings at the Ivy League. What we’ve benefited from in Nigeria is a lack of direct experience in the last two hundred years with slavery, neither as slave owners or slaves and we know the sky is the limit for everyone, regardlless of race, sex or natural origin. It puts us in a serious advantage to Americans who hold on to their “stereotypes.” for their existence. Why can most caucasian Europeans breakdance and every white Americans can barely do the two steps? They’ve limited themselves to stereotypes.

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2017/06/03/all-hail-yet-another-indian-american-12-year-old-ananya-vina-wins-2017-scripps-spelling-bee-tola-adenle/feed/0emotan12-year-old Ananya Vinay spells 'marocain' to win the US National Spelling BeeNigeria: Salvaging Nigerian Universities – Ladipo Adamolekunhttps://emotanafricana.com/2017/05/04/nigeria-salvaging-nigerian-universities-ladipo-adamolekun/
https://emotanafricana.com/2017/05/04/nigeria-salvaging-nigerian-universities-ladipo-adamolekun/#respondThu, 04 May 2017 05:28:04 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=43800Since the posting of Independent Scholar, Professor Adamolekun’s Education Sector in Crisis: Evidence, Causes and Possible Remedies on this blog in January 2013, the paper has proved so popular that I re-blogged it in November 2014. The Lecture had been delivered as “Distinguished Lecture of Joseph Ayo Babalola University”, Ọṣun State of Nigeria in January 2013.

This new post was a convocation Lecture delivered by Adamolekun, a Nigerian National Order of Merit Awardee at the Federal University of Oye, Ekiti State last month, and deals with the same subject of Education in the country’s tertiary institutions.

While the 2013 paper deals with the problems in Nigeria’s universities using copious examples and causes as well as offering possible remedies, the new subject deals extensively with saving Nigeria’s universities from its now very low quality. Adamolekun draws examples from his experience as student and teacher at Nigerian universities which contrasts sharply with what has been the downward spiral situation for many years.

In Part I, he looks at the state of university education during his time at the University of Ibadan (UI) and discusses how the university was able to turn out world-class students in an institution that is now worse than a shadow of its old glorious past.

“… before the prevailing decline, there was an earlier era of quality university education in the country. The highlights of that era are presented in Part One of this Lecture. Part Two is focused on the evidence and causes of decline. In Part Three, the main remedial measures introduced and implemented, in varying degrees, since the return to civilian rule in 1999 are summarised and assessed. Finally, in Part Four, I provide six concluding thoughts and recommendations.”

While the grading of Higher Education to show which universities are “world class” and where such institutions stand on a scale started after the era of Nigeria’s glorious past in university education, Adamolekun’s paper shows how we can compare the education at Nigeria’s universities like UI with those in other parts of the world at that time.

He lists some of the factors that made the competitiveness of UI education, for example, with top universities of the world as –

the availability of quality expatriate and Nigerian teachers,

good educational infrastructure, including well-stocked libraries at both central and departmental levels that met the needs of staff and students,

the availability of municipal services like water and electricity supplies in the hostels and lecture rooms, et cetera

students generally enjoyed stress-free good quality of life, including decent food in a decent environment that made their goals of being in a university to study, their only worry.

Adamolekun points out his personal experience that made him realize and appreciate the quality of education he had received at a Nigerian tertiary institution once he left UI for a world-class university:

“… the high quality of education at Ibadan in those days. First, when my cohort of new students matriculated in November 1964, ten or more of us were male and female students who had completed their secondary education (“A” level) in the United Kingdom. Their parents (including one who later became the Vice-Chancellor at Ibadan before we graduated) had concluded that Ibadan was the equal of the top universities in the United Kingdom. Second, when I went up to Oxford to begin my graduate studies in October 1969, I felt that I was the equal of the other graduate students who matriculated that year. And it was no surprise that I was among the group of postgraduate students in the 1969 cohort in St. Antony’s College that were awarded DPhil degrees within three years.”

The paper looks at four of the remedial measures introduced since the return to civilian rule in 1999 to stall the decline in quality of education at Nigerian universities and remedy the situation : “restoration of university autonomy; increased access for qualified students; improved financial support; and enhanced research capability cum centres of excellence.”

He points out Nigeria’s usual problems as being behind why the Restoration of Autonomy to universities which went as far as leading to a Universities Autonomy Act that was signed into law in July 2004 is still stuck at the National Assembly in over a decade: the relegating of any/all matters to political problems.

The National Universities Commission (NUC), the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) and academic heads of universities – vice-chancellors – who, for many years have become “political office holders [who] lack high moral ground” and like others, including the Academic Staff through their umbrella union, the ASUU, as being all unable and/or unwilling to push for university autonomy because of personal agendas.

Salvaging university education in Nigeria is an arduous task which would require the will of political leadership in the country to bring about not only the finalization, by giving legal life to the Universities Autonomy Act, to restoring autonomy to the universities. This should bring back a measure of the quality that characterized Nigeria’s glorious past in educational achievement when graduates from the country’s secondary schools and A-Levels went on to top world-class universities: Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, et cetera, and when – the subject of this paper – the graduates of its universities proceeded to graduate (post graduate) schools (including many through academic scholarships and fellowships: Rockefeller & Ford Foundations; AFGRAD, ASPAU …).

This Lecture is even more readable (at least for a non-academic like this blogger), and definitely more interesting than the one in 2013. I’m sure it should attract a lot of readers like the earlier one which, as of March 30 – four years after its initial posting – had attracted over four thousand, seven hundred views [Source: wordpress.com]

Nancy Abu-Bonsrah and her husband, Kwabena Yamoah, celebrate her match with Johns Hopkins Hospital for a neurosurgical residency.

(CNN)In the 30 years that Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s neurosurgical department has accepted residents, there has never been a black woman in the ranks.

Now, Nancy Abu-Bonsrah is making history.

The prestigious program accepts just two to five residents, and is ranked second in the country. Among its most notable alumni: Dr. Ben Carson, who is now the United States secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

“I am very much interested in providing medical care in underserved settings, specifically surgical care,” Abu-Bonsrah said in a statement. “I hope to be able to go back to Ghana over the course of my career to help in building sustainable surgical infrastructure.”

Abu-Bonsrah lived in Ghana until she was 15, and also attended Johns Hopkins medical school.

Way to go, young lady! Congratulations to you, your family, Ghana, Nigeria’s little neighbor to the West that has always punched way above its weight, and of course, to the Motherland. – TOLA.

THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2017. 4:03 p.m. [GMT]

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2017/03/23/ghanaian-female-blazes-a-trail-as-first-female-black-neurosurgeon-resident-at-johns-hopkins/feed/0emotanImage may contain: textImage may contain: 3 people, people smiling, people standing and shoesAfrica gets its own web address with launch of .africa – bbc.comhttps://emotanafricana.com/2017/03/11/africa-gets-its-own-web-address-with-launch-of-africa-bbc-com/
https://emotanafricana.com/2017/03/11/africa-gets-its-own-web-address-with-launch-of-africa-bbc-com/#respondSat, 11 Mar 2017 05:07:09 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=42369Africa now has the unique web address .africa, equivalent to the more familiar .com, following its official launch by the African Union.
AU commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma hailed its creation as the moment when Africa “got [its] own digital identity”.

The AU says the .africa domain name will “bring the continent together as an internet community”.
Addresses can now reflect a company’s interest in the whole of Africa.

For example, a mobile phone company could create mobile.africa to show its Africa-wide presence, or a travel company could set up travel.africa.

Icann, the body that establishes these addresses known as generic Top-Level Domains, approved the move, after lobbying by the AU.

The campaign was spearheaded by a South African company ZA Central Registry (ZACR), which will now be responsible for registering .africa names.

ZACR’s boss Lucky Masilela said that .africa addresses could cost as little as $18 (£15), AFP news agency quotes him as saying, and registration will start in July.

Other domain names recently created by Icann, include .fun, .phone and .hair.

A high school in Mountain View, California, has made millions from Snap’s initial public offering (IPO) less than four years after investing $15,000 in the Venice, California-based technology company.

Saint Francis High School was one of the first investors in the company behind the ephemeral messaging app Snapchat, having invested a small proportion of its endowment fund in Snap Inc’s seed round of financing in 2012.

Snap made its trading debut Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange. It had priced its IPO of 200 million shares at $17 each but shortly after the opening bell stock began trading significantly higher, eventually closing at $24.48 per share – up 44 percent on expectations.

Saint Francis, a private Catholic school with annual tuition fees over $17,000, sold 1.4 million shares – two thirds of its overall stake – for $17 per share at Thursday’s IPO.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Bobby Murphy, co-founder and chief technology officer at Snap Inc., from left, Evan Spiegel, co-founder and chief executive officer of Snap Inc., ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with Tom Farley, president of the NYSE Group, during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in New York, U.S., on Thursday, March 2, 2017.

The school has not confirmed its overall return but it is estimated to have made nearly $24 million, according to officials cited by NBC.

Simon Chiu, president of Saint Francis, announced the good news Thursday in a letter to parents.

“The school’s investment in Snap – which this morning announced the completion of its IPO – has matured and given us a significant boost as we continue our work towards realizing the bold vision and goals set out in our community-inspired strategic plan: leading with Hope & Zeal,” noted Chiu in the letter.

“This incredible boon will not, by itself, completely fund the goals of the strategic plan, but it will lay the necessary foundation and give us a remarkable head start,” he added.

The school first became involved in the technology firm in 2012 when Barry Eggers, a parent of two Saint Francis pupils and founding partner of venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners, became intrigued by his children’s use of the app.

Snap gets snapped up 14 Hours Ago | 01:07

Eggers met with Snap co-founders Evan Spiegal and Bobby Murphy, who at the time were working out of Stamford dorm room, and, having been suitably impressed, prompted Lightspeed to lead a $500,000 investment round – the company’s first.

Lightspeed invested $485,000 and Eggers invited Saint Francis’ to put forward the remaining $15,000 from its investment fund that had been created in 1990 by parents and former Saint Francis president Kevin Makley to support long term initiatives.

In his note to parents, Chui thanked Eggers’ for his “remarkable generosity”.

A blog post by Barry Eggers posted Thursday on Lightspeed Venture Partners’ website said: “While I’ve enjoyed Snap’s journey with my Partners as an early investor, I have the unexpected bonus of sharing the experience with my children.

“It’s been amazing for us to watch how far Evan and Bobby and Snap have come since that kitchen table conversation between my daughter and me…and how much they’ve already changed how we communicate today.”

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2017. 2:35 a.m. [GMT]

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2017/03/04/usa-california-high-school-makes-millions-on-snap-ipo-cnbckaren-gilchrist/feed/0emotanBobby Murphy, co-founder and chief technology officer at Snap Inc., from left, Evan Spiegel, co-founder and chief executive officer of Snap Inc., ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with Tom Farley, president of the NYSE Group, during the company's initial public offering (IPO) in New York, U.S., on Thursday, March 2, 2017.Snap gets snapped upFeast for the eyes & soul worth sharing: Antartic bases, from wooden huts to “embassies on ice”https://emotanafricana.com/2017/01/14/feast-for-the-eyes-worth-sharing-antartic-bases-from-wooden-huts-to-embassies-on-ice/
https://emotanafricana.com/2017/01/14/feast-for-the-eyes-worth-sharing-antartic-bases-from-wooden-huts-to-embassies-on-ice/#respondSat, 14 Jan 2017 15:35:18 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=40644

BRAZIL’S “Embassy on Ice” glistens against a backdrop of icy mountains with a sea front reflecting the architectural beauty and a beautiful sky while the country’s flag flutters far away from its tropical home in a humongous neighborhood dominated by the big boys of the world.

Brazil, India and Korea may not be First World but they do NOT belong in the league of bled-dry through leaders’ pillaging African countries of the world, either. They are already taking advantage of the Antarctic Treaty, which, right now, has suspended all territorial claims to the icy continent.

As the big boys started a gold-rush style construction boom, but as presence calls for research, each is [sort of] saying we may not be able to build whole neighborhoods like the USA … but we too, can by owning impressive structures for research that fly our countries’ flags.

How ’bout Brazil’s futuristic airport lounge-styled hall shown here!

TOLA

How Antarctic bases went from wooden huts to sci-fi chic – bbc.com

How do you build in the most isolated place on Earth? For decades Antarctica – the only continent with no indigenous population – hosted only the simplest huts as human shelters. But, as Matthew Teller finds out, architecture in the coldest, driest, windiest reaches of our planet is getting snazzier.

BRAZIL

It’s an eye-popping, futuristic design – a dark, sleek building, low and long, that is destined to be a temporary waterfront home for up to 65 people at a time.

The price tag is a hefty $100m (£80m). And while a Chinese company is building it, it’s not in China, and almost no-one will ever see it.

ESTUDIO 41 ARQUITETURA

Welcome to Brazil’s Comandante Ferraz Antarctic research station.

After the original burned down in 2012, the Brazilian navy launched an architectural competition for a replacement design – won by a local firm – and then awarded the building tender to a Chinese defence and engineering contractor, CEIEC. It’s due to be completed in 2018.

The upper block will contain cabins, dining and living space; the lower block will house laboratories and operational areas [ESTÚDIO 41/AFACONSULT]

Located on a small island just off the coast of Antarctica, it lies almost 1,000km (600 miles) south of the tip of South America. No scheduled air routes come close and it’s way off any shipping lanes.

And even if you could reach it yourself, like all Antarctic research stations Comandante Ferraz will be closed to the public. Virtually nobody other than the crews posted there will ever see it in the flesh. So why, you may ask, spend so much on architectural style? Wouldn’t a dull but functional building do just as well?

Brazil is not alone in paying for eye-catching design, though.

In 2013, India unveiled its Bharati station, with a similar modernist design.

Designed by bof arkitekten, Bharati overlooks the sea and is used to study polar marine life

Professor Ladipo Adamolekun’s autobiography benefits immensely from a habit of meticulous record-keeping, a habit he had acquired before turning twenty in the early 1960s. It is an inheritance from his late father – our father, I must state right here – who, without formal education, not only taught himself to read and write Yoruba but rudimentary English Language. It made an easy task of writing his biography by this blogger from jottings he kept meticulously since the early years of the 20th Century to the time of his death 29 years ago; it had an opening entry, 1908 ni mo dé ìlú Baba mi ni Ijù – I arrived at my father’s Iju hometown in 1908. He had spent his earlier years with his mother and their extended families in the mother’s Ìsẹ̀-Èkìtì hometown.

From that 1908 entry, J.F. Adamolekun meticulously recorded not only the birth dates, days of the week and hours of all his children, but birth dates of children of relations and others at Iju who went to him for such assistance. He also recorded important dates marking the growth of the first Anglican Church, including names of catechists and priests, and facts such as the laying of a church corner stone by the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of West Africa, His Grace L.G. Vining who is immortalized in Nigeria’s Anglican Communion today with churches and institutions named after him. A particular entry would prove very useful to the Akure Diocese – to which Iju belongs – when the Diocese celebrated a major milestone some years ago.

It comes therefore as no surprise that I Remember has decades of diary-keeping to draw from for this enjoyable and easy-to-read life’s story. Ladipo’s record-keeping shows in the illustrations/photographs in I Remember. An entry in his 1963 Diary, for example, shows how he brings the past to life easily when memory would not have served:

I have fond memories of officiating in church services thrice in 1962 and 1963. According to my diary entry for Sunday, December 29, 1963, “I led Students’ Service today”. Appropriately, Mr. J.M. Babalola (one of the early graduates in the community) preached a sermon on university education during the service.

At the beginning of Chapter 4 is another gem, an entry on August 8, 1964 that is a pointer to Ladipo’s persona: the meticulous record-keeper though yet-to-matriculate-student heading to UI, already has his focus on graduation day – four years ahead:

UI degree results were published this week. No First Class Honours in History again! I am thinking seriously whether I’ll be able to make it. I hope to work hard with that in view.

Ladipo would make “it”, a First Class Honours in French, a subject he did not pick up till the University of Ibadan, and a language he not only became very fluent at (not my opinion!), but a mastery of which has made public administration in French West Africa part of his scholarship. Among his many published works – several are available through amazon.com, Sekou Toure’s Guinea: An Experiment in Nation Building, 1976, is an example of his wide contribution to knowledge of French West Africa’s public administration and history.

After retiring from the University of Ife where he rose to Deanship, he would spend about two decades at The World Bank from which he retired a few years ago as the Country Head of The Bank’s Office in Togo, a French West African country and his last station after years not only at the Washington Headquarters but also a stint in Kenya.

Ladipo was a student activist and became the PRO of the University of Ibadan during the 1965/66 session, a period when campus politics and Nigeria’s politics collided. The Union, just like the university at large, was split into two when the Vice Chancellor (the academic head) and the Registrar (the administrative head) were pitted against each other; the VC (Ibo) and Adamolekun (Yoruba) each had overwhelming support from their ethnic groups. I Remember details how the Students’ Union President dragged the Union into the imbroglio against the wishes of Ladipo and some members of the executive. He resigned from his post as the Students’ Union PRO on principle.

Thursday, May 12, 2016 saw the first public presentation of I Remember at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos. There were additional “launches” at Abuja and Akure later that month. Akure ,the capital of Ondo State, is twelve miles from Iju where Adamolekun tends a Public Affairs Library he endowed for universities within 30 mile-radius of Iju – there are about half a dozen – where he spends most of his retirement years.

Mr. Sam Amuka-Pemu [Publisher of Nigeria’s Vanguard newspapers and a renowned journalist who wrote under the pen name Sad Sam; ‘sad’, only about Nigeria!] share a mirthful moment with retired General Ipòọla Àlàní Akinriade, Nigeria’s 1st Chief of Defence Staff from 1980, and another guest at the Lagos public presentation.[Credit: allure.vanguardngr.com]

ABUJA

The Abuja public presentation was attended by friends and family, including Dr. Fayemi, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals. In this photograph, Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Ọ̀ṣíbàjò who commended the author for “consistency and ethical orientation which he has exhibited over the years …”, is shown with author and his wife.[Credit: guardianng.com]

Of twenty photographs in the book, two are of particular interest as they show Ladipo’s penchant for holding on to documents prove very useful in the writing of I Remember. A photograph shows his supporters carrying placards that supported him during the campaign for the students’ election of 1965. The other is his Action Group of Nigeria (AG) Membership Card No. 74387 of 1964 with a photograph of the sage in the middle and a palm tree, the party’s symbol, on each side!

While it was common for MOST students in Southwestern Nigeria’s Yoruba homeland back then to belong to the youth wing of the AG, a badge of honor – that’s what the card represented back then – was the party’s card. For Ladipo to have kept that card till today is a testimony of a habit formed when very young.

By the way, in the turbulent political days of the 1960s that set Nigeria on the chaos she has never recovered from, Ladipo’s Awoism – enthusiastic believers of Chief Awolowo’s philosophy and politics – was cemented with his Omo Awo – child of Awo – column for Nigeria’s oldest and first private newspaper, The Tribune founded in 1949 by Awo to propagate his populist programs. Today, Ladipo seats on the Board of Trustees of The Awolowo Foundation.

Author’s A.G. Card, issued 1964

By the time he entered Òyemẹkùn Grammar School, he already exhibited a seriousness and focus that would serve him throughout his education and professional life. As foreword to Part I, “The Early Years”, Ladipo writes:

For the benefit of non-Nigerians and Nigerians not of Ladipo’s generation, the idea of a 13-year old choosing a Latin motto that is same as that of the Royal Air Force (British) may be far-fetched but it is not.

[By the way, Ladipo entered Oyemekun in 1956, a school where he would meet Kole Omotoso, a year after his entry; Kole would become his life-long friend and a younger or older ‘brother’ to all Adamolekuns.]

Life-long friends, Kọle Ọmọtọṣọ and Author, an interesting photograph dating back over 50 years of the friends used among the few in I Remember.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Latin was a subject taught in most Nigerian secondary schools starting from the First Form. While it is possible that the author could have come by that phrase in one of those ancient English Grammar books like Redoubt or his Latin text at that age, many Nigerian pupils of that era, including those who did not study Latin at all would memorize extensive Latin phrases just as they would memorize huge chunks of Shakespeare for same purposes!

And having chosen reaching the stars as his goal, Ladipo worked hard to become one in educational and professional achievements.

I remember details his early life in a large extended family home at Iju central to which was school, church and the father’s extensive cocoa farm, including various fruits, yams, vegetables and other food crops.

Ladipo’s hard work and focus paid off right from elementary school at the St. Stephen’s School, Iju and the United Senior Primary, Iju-Itaogbolu where he excelled. His secondary education would follow the same pattern at Oyemekun and Christ’s School. He would enter UI with excellent Higher School Certificate results (equivalent to the General Certificate of Education at “Advanced Level”) before proceeding to start a degree program in History. Although his only foreign language subject had been Latin in which he made a Distinction in the West African School Certificate (WASC), French would become his major at UI. He referenced the quality of teaching at Nigeria’s premier university of the era as the basis for his success in the following excerpt:

Although I did not study French at Oyemekun and Christ’s School, the quality of teaching … was such that at the end of the four-year programme, my competency in French was superior to that in English in some respects: my oral French was slightly better than my oral English and my translation from English to French was better than the reverse …

My opinion of I Remember – the early caveat, regardless – is a book that is very readable, nothing is left out – warts at all – that should be known by the public about a scholar who may like his privacy but who has a good measure of public recognition. It is a book that really gets a bibliophile engaged and leaves the reader with a feeling of satisfaction. The well-stocked Ladipo Adamolekun Public Affairs Library is not only a showcase of the author’s love of books but is Ladipo’s way of giving back to graduate students in that field of the neighboring universities a place where they can have access to research materials that would not likely be available at their institutions.

It’s a book I would recommend because it not only details the life’s path of Ladipo Adamolekun and his many successes but it is a good template for young people on some of the ways to achieve their goals. The author’s encounters and the politics in Nigerian universities, disappointments, even tragedies are not left out.

Of many autobiographies and biographies of Nigerian men and women I’ve had the opportunity to read over the years -again, the caveat – I Remember is, perhaps, one of the few that is not vainglorious despite the great achievements of the author, and not plumped-up for effect. It is a story of a life told in such meticulous details and eloquent language that makes the author the only person who could have told his own story so well and so readable.

CREDIT: 2015, Jumoke Adamolekun

As Ladipo turns seventy-four today, here’s to a jolly day, and many healthy and happy years ahead.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2016. 12:10 a.m. [GMT]

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2016/07/20/book-announcement-ladipo-adamolekuns-autobiographical-i-remember-tola-adenle/feed/0emotanL. AdamolekunAGcardKole Omotoso and LadipoIJU PUBLIC AFFAIRSbldgAll Southwest states should follow Oyo’s Governor Ajimọbi & return primary & secondary schools to former owners – Tola Adenlehttps://emotanafricana.com/2016/06/12/all-southwest-states-should-follow-oyos-governor-ajimobi-return-primary-secondary-schools-to-former-owners-tola-adenle/
https://emotanafricana.com/2016/06/12/all-southwest-states-should-follow-oyos-governor-ajimobi-return-primary-secondary-schools-to-former-owners-tola-adenle/#commentsSun, 12 Jun 2016 04:30:38 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=17336While it is understandable that there must be people who would not like the idea of Oyo State’s Governor Ajimobi returning all schools in the state to their former (mostly mission) owners, it is my opinion that it is the right thing to do once the interest of the kids is central to planning and policy-making.

It was wrong for government at “federal” and state levels, starting from Obasanjo days for government to take over what individuals, states and mission churches started with private funds: universities like Ile-Ife, now OAU, for example and the Liberty Stadium both founded and built by the Western Region government.

After the MISappropriation of such private institutions at “federal” and state levels, I am unaware of where or when compensations were paid.

Governments at state levels have had problems of meeting their financial obligations to the extent that paying salaries of workers in secondary and primary schools have become impossible in the last year or more. In fact, I attended a party at Ibadan for a retired teacher who turned sixty, and nothing seemed to have been party chat more than back-logged teachers’ salaries as many of the attendees were teachers.

When missions and private people ran schools in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, students had teachers who were more dedicated than what obtains now, a situation that cannot be separated from the financial situations that states have found themselves as student populations grow and the need for infrastructure development accelerated.

I cannot claim to know the reason(s) for teachers and pupils/students’ revolt at this return-to-owners’ new policy but I believe that whatever they may be, would be a matter that would be resolve-able in the short run and looking at the long run, a return to the former owners is not only just but would benefit teachers and students alike.

The governors’ motives which are not stated in news reports as well as opponents’ preference to remain government-owned institutions need be put before a selected group by the Oyo State government which should include parents where reconciliation would be tabled. Monies and other obligations owed to teachers, the owners to whom schools are being returned and creditors should be worked out as to timeline of payments and settlement of the obligations.

Parents’ participation will be important because a situation that has parents not wanting to be involved financially in any expenditure concerning the education of their kids would constitute big set-backs for education in the state. After all, parents did pay tuition in primary schools up to 1954 and even now in parts of Yorubaland, parents willingly pay levies and other expenses for their kids. Anything of value has a price and our appreciation of things seem to be higher when we pay something in return for any them.

A few years back, two schools in my native Iju in Ondo State had two elementary schools devastated by a rain storm that led to the schools’ roofs being blown off. For over a year, the schools were not given a look-see, a situation that had nothing to do with non-reporting of the situation by the locals. An older retired sibling took the matter up all the way to the Governor’s office, and if truth be told, the governor swung into action. Despite contractors being employed for the Methodist and R.C.M. Schools – the two affected schools – nothing much was done. It was then I got to know about the situation and my brother turned over documents about the school. I was able to see the governor and the Permanent Secretary. Today, the RCM School has been renovated and added to as a Model Primary School for Iju while the Methodist School has been roofed and renovated.

Here is the reason for above example: During the long period that those two schools were not repaired by government, MOST of the pupils were transferred by their parents – farmers and other rural dwellers – to private schools, an unusual situation that had the town’s government schools having less number of pupils than private schools! The statistics had been compiled by my brother and school authorities at Iju and passed the stats to Ondo’s Governor Mimiko through the State’s Ministry of Education.

This is the first time I am narrating the story of a situation I got peripherally involved in only because of its relevance to the story at hand.

Now, two final points.

Sometimes despite government’s willingness to do something, this was not done in the above case as the contractor paid to do a job took the money but did not perform until a public-spirited person in the community took up the matter. And somewhere along the chain of command, somebody or some people did not do their job by supervising that contractor, and hundreds of kids in two schools got short-changed.

And despite the fact that two schools became abandoned which led to kids’ interests not being served, parents did not fold their arms but all scraped and scrounged and removed their kids to avoid catastrophe.

Our people must wake up to their responsibility of taking interest in the life and education of their kids because – let’s face it – government as presently run in Nigeria, and CONSIDERING THE RUNAWAY POPULATION EXPLOSION, cannot be expected to handle the education of kids and do it all at no cost for the hundreds of thousands of kids in most Yoruba states.

I am no policy wonk but I feel this new direction in education at the lowest levels may take some time before the positive results start showing but will see great improvement in education as we all have yearned for over many years.

It may even be more cost effective if accurate census of all pupils are taken so that per/head specific amounts are paid for each child to each Mission as the state’s contribution, which cannot and should not end with the return of schools. The remaining public schools in each state should benefit greatly from much-reduced school populations which would become easier to handle financially and logistically for each state government.

SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2016. 4:30 a.m. [GMT]

]]>https://emotanafricana.com/2016/06/12/all-southwest-states-should-follow-oyos-governor-ajimobi-return-primary-secondary-schools-to-former-owners-tola-adenle/feed/15emotanAl Jazeera’s Planned U.S. Shutdown: US-based AJ’s producers & anchors dare tread where US media maintain silence – Ali Alyamihttps://emotanafricana.com/2016/01/16/al-jazeeras-planned-u-s-shutdown-us-based-ajs-producers-anchors-dare-tread-where-us-media-maintain-silence-ali-alyami/
https://emotanafricana.com/2016/01/16/al-jazeeras-planned-u-s-shutdown-us-based-ajs-producers-anchors-dare-tread-where-us-media-maintain-silence-ali-alyami/#respondSat, 16 Jan 2016 15:14:01 +0000http://emotanafricana.com/?p=13699In response to the recent Huffington Post story on the imminent shutdown of Al Jazeera-America, here is a comment on this blog’s copy of the essay from my mailbox worth sharing. It was sent by one of my blog’s active visitors and supporters. Thanks, Remi.

TOLA.

Money might be a factor in pulling the plug on Aljazeera America, but it’s not the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Many of Aljazeera’s producers and news anchors are progressive, human rights minders. They daringly invited provocative individuals to discuss subjects considered unfavorable not only toward the autocratic Qatari ruling family’s policies and view of the world, but toward the brutal policies of other Gulf ruling dynasties, especially the Saudis.

A human rights advocate was invited to discuss the cruel Saudi regime’s mass execution on Jan. 2nd, but was told his participation had been called off as he was approaching the television studio.

The New York-based Aljazeera producers and anchors and their colleagues ought to feel proud of being fired because of their efforts to expose tyrannical policies that most traditional US media dare not even mention directly.